Howard's most prominent roles to date include Natalie Teeger, Adrian Monk's (Tony Shalhoub) assistant on the USA Network television series Monk,[1] and Sharon Carter, the "girl" of the title of the 1998–2001 sitcom Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place (later retitled Two Guys and a Girl).

Howard has been married three times. Her first marriage was to actor Cameron Hall on February 2, 1991, which ended in divorce on March 12, 1993; the couple had no children.[2] Her second marriage was to actor Christian Navarro on April 26, 2003, which ended in divorce in 2006. They also had no children.

On November 24, 2006, Howard gave birth to a son, Sabu. She was pregnant with him during season five of Monk, so she spent several episodes with boxes, newspapers, and the like in front of her abdomen to hide the pregnancy. Traylor married for the third time in 2011 to Jarel Portman, son of famed architectJohn C. Portman Jr.; the couple's son Julien was born in 2012.[3]